If the last week reminded me of anything, it’s that I needed new tires. We had 4 days of ice, 4 days of school being closed and 4 days where I slowly went crazy.

When I got my last set of tires, extra was paid for their warranty. And a good thing, too. I had to replace one of the tires and it didn’t cost me anything.

But what that means now is that I had one good tire and three bald tires. First thing Saturday morning, I headed to Discount Tire. Although it was still chilly, their front door was propped open with a heater/blower running. They had a water line break, and it flooded the garage and part of the customer waiting area.

It didn’t appear to slow them down much, and I was quickly charged for my three marginal tires. I settled in to wait. Not for long, they had me come out to the service area and showed me my bent rim. It wasn’t all that bent, but I kinda knew there was a problem from the way the car drove. The dude highly recommended aluminum rims, the cheapest they had were only a few dollars more then the steel replacements.

But the problem was you can’t just buy one rim; my old steel rim used a hubcap; aluminum rims do not use hubcaps. So I brought out the plastic and added 4 rims to my purchase; he upgraded me from the cheapest aluminum to the next best for the same price.

But wait! There’s more! A few minutes later he came out and told me they didn’t have those rims either, so he showed me a couple that were on display, and told me to pick one. I’d already paid, so he just gave me the upgrade. I didn’t really like either of them, but whatever; the car is 11 years old, it’s all good.

He mentioned that aluminum rims give a much better ride. I thought he was blowing smoke, but I really can tell the difference. Of course, if I really had two bent rims the difference would be obvious with any new set.

Overall, I’m pleased with the purchase, but did NOT want to spend $800 on my ride. And I don’t particularly like the red line.  But whateves, it rides better.

Add these to the stereo I just installed, and it’s the closest I’ll get to a newer car!

I listen to a lot of audio books on my drive.  My previous setup consisted of the stock stereo and a digital-to-tape cassette.  I had to turn it up loud to hear over the rhythmic screech as the cassette labored to produce sound from an MP3 player.

While I was discussing a new car with my youngest (in the short time that I had to actually talk about it, see previous post), she surprised me with a very considered opinion.  I was telling her what colors we could get (I had already kind of made up my mind, and I guess that came through) and she said, “Daddy, don’t you think  we should get a color the whole family agrees on?”

This of course shocked me.  She never takes the lets-just-talk-it-out position, she’s SIX.  And she certainly didn’t get this enlightened approach from me!